Kendall Phillips admits in the dedication of his book to being a life-long fan of the horror genre. While non-fans may not identify with his preferences, most should find this an interesting work nonetheless. Phillips analyzes ten unusually popular and enduring horror films, beginning with 1931’s Dracula and concluding with 1999’s The Sixth Sense. He relates each film to the cultural, political and economic climate surrounding its release date to explain why these films resonated so strongly with the filmgoing public. Using the not unfamiliar theory that monsters represent cultural fears, Phillips shows a progression from the supernatural (and culturally foreign) Dracula through the home-grown maniacs of the slasher films (Psycho, Halloween, The Silence of the Lambs) to the ghosts that can only be seen by one special little boy in The Sixth Sense. The demons, it seems, keep getting closer.

Particularly interesting is Phillips’ chapter on director John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978), a simple, low-budget slasher film that, perhaps not coincidentally, starred Jamie Lee Curtis, daughter of Psycho star Janet Leigh. Halloween spawned numerous sequels and imitations and remains one of the more influential horror films of the late twentieth century. What Phillips claims made Halloween unique at the time of its release was that it turned the classic horror formula inside out. While the monsters of previous generations, from Dracula to the cannibalistic rednecks of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, were inhuman outsiders threatening to invade the normal world, Halloween’s Michael Myers is a vengeful child who functions to impose order in a chaotic world. The parents in Halloween’s suburban Haddonfield are absent or too distracted to pay close attention to their teenage children. Instead it is Michael who punishes those who engage in sexual activity or drug use. Only Curtis’s character, Laurie the babysitter, who functions as the “good mother” of the film, is spared. The formula used in Halloween would dominate the horror films of the 1980s and, Phillips writes, “Carpenter’s simple, condensed version of the American horror genre fit with the simplistic condensed version of cultural politics promoted in the 1980s.”

Kendall Phillips is Associate Professor in the department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies at Syracuse University. His book is not only good Halloween reading, but may also give you some ideas about what to watch while handing out candy.

Larson, Erik. The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America. New York : Vintage Books, 2004

The book tells the story of two men who have a single event in common – the World’s Fair of 1893.By telling the story of an architect, Daniel H. Burnham, and a murderer, H. H. Holmes, Larson shows how far a man can go – both how high a man can soar and how low a man can sink. For one man, the fair is his chance to show the world his architectural greatness, for the other man, the fair is a way for him to lure women to their deaths.

A note from the author which precedes the story clearly states the book is a work of non-fiction, which causes the book to be unbalanced.There is much more information in the book about Burnham, fair politics, and fair architecture than there is about Holmes and the specifics of the murders he committed. The reason that the chapters about the fair are generally longer and more detailed is most likely due to the fact that it was much easier for Larson to acquire letters, journals, and public records that had information about the fair than it was to find detailed information about the many murders Holmes committed.

In his book, Larson provides an interesting look at Chicago’s history, more specifically the history of the fair, with exceptional historical detail. He brings to life a time when America is still trying to secure its place in the world, and it is interesting to see the beginnings of things such as Cracker Jack, Juicy Fruit, and the Ferris Wheel. The information that is revealed in the book about the many murders committed by the cunning H. H. Holmes is equally as interesting – and also unsettling.

Imwinkelried, Edward J. Evidentiary Foundations.Newwark, N.J.: LexisNexis, 2005.

Folks seeking a realistic glimpse at trial practice will be pleased with Imwinkelried’s Evidentiary Foundations. A gnawing terror of new trial attorneys is that they will be caught off-guard by an objection—that they will blank out, totally space and wind up standing there deer-like, gazing hopelessly into the headlights of crushing defeat. Evidentiary Foundations alleviates these fears by presenting realistic scripts for moving things into evidence. The end result is a fantastic tool for methodically working through evidence problems. It also provides a window onto a landscape seldom seen on TV: the specific problems associated with things offered to prove facts. Fascinating and surprisingly readable, the text also has value as an accessible primer on our basic societal values regarding how something is impartially determined to be real and to have actually happened.

Clapton, Eric. The Concise Eric Clapton. New York: Wise Publications, 1994.

 
This collection, compiled by Peter Evans, includes the lyrics, melody lines and guitar chord diagrams for 58 of Eric Clapton’s songs. These selections represent a broad cross-section of Clapton’s work. Clapton is widely acknowledged as one of most influential blues guitarists of the Twentieth Century. Some would say “The” most influential.* A composer and collaborator of unparalleled prolificity, Clapton is one of the musicians who bridged Rock & Roll and Blues traditions to create a more powerful genre, capable of communicating social criticism and deep emotionality.

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* See, e.g., Little Steven, “Eric Clapton,” Rolling Stone, Apr. 21, 2005.